Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe and receive news when grants are awarded. Interact with a state map of grants awarded!
Boston's Colonial Religious History Tour App
Development of a walking tour mobile application explores Boston's early religious history, with a particular focus on the decision-making practices and contentious issues that characterized life in seventeenth-century Boston.
(project website)
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Carolyn Hewitt
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $7,000
Somerset, Massachusetts: Envisioning Past and Present
A program for 36 students in the school's Advanced Digital Photography program to create a town-wide large-scale photo installation of the historic places, people, and culture of the town.
(project website)
Somerset, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Virginia Troutman
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $5,000
Pre-Teen Reading Program
A reading and discussion program for pre-teens and their caregivers, particularly focused on participation by male caregivers.
Foxborough, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Karen Harris
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $4,047
New Rep Spotlight Symposium Series
A symposium series in conjunction with theatrical productions that explore the connections between religion, science, and identity.
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Adrienne Boris
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $5,000
Squam: An Intimate History
Funding to inventory, photograph, and index 39 family albums and scrapbooks made by village residents from pre- civil war time on. Selected albums will be featured in an upcoming exhibit about what life was like for families in the village during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Gloucester, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Mary Ellen Lepionka
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $1,500
Norwood Historical Costume Collection
Funding to inventory, evaluate, photograph and re-house their collection of 750 garments dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Materials will be used in a digital presentation of their entire costume collection, an exhibit of WWI era clothing and a planned exhibit exploring the diversity of Norwood's participation in the Great War.
Norwood, MA, Norfolk County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Bryan Burns
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $1,500
Early Families & Industries of West Stockbridge
Funding to inventory, catalogue and preserve four boxes of records, invoices and papers from Baldwin's Extracts Company, est. 1865, ranging from the late 19th through early mid 20th centuries. The material will be part of an on-going series of talks and remembrances celebrating West Stockbridge and its families.
West Stockbridge, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Robert Salerno
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $1,500
Reclaiming Urban Renewal - Community Efforts and Impacts in Lawrence MA
Planning and implementation of a one-day symposium on the effects of federal and state urban renewal programs on Lawrence and other industrial cities.
Lawrence, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Susan Grabski
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $5,000
Coping
Initial filming, research, and the creation of a project website and plan for a documentary that follows prisoners as they work with programs intended to help them establish a foothold in society after being released from incarceration.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Robert Nesson
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $10,000
Spirit Voices: Pacific Northwest Native Myths
A five-month exhibition that explores and dramatizes the cultural heritage of various Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest through myths and stories embodied in art, artifacts, and performances.
Pittsfield, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Maria Mingalone
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $4,680
Belmont World Film's Family Festival & 15th Annual International Film Series
Support for the Family Festival & 15th Annual International Film Series, featuring international film and documentary premiers and focusing on international cultural understanding.
Sudbury, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Ellen Gitelman
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $5,000
Long Road to Justice: The African American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts
Expansion and updating of the exhibit Long Road to Justice: The African American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts, a chronicle of the legal struggle for civil rights of African Americans in Massachusetts.
Somerville, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Julian Houston
awarded on: 2015-12-11
amount: $10,000
From Yokuntown to Lenox: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Lenox
Production of an 80-minute documentary featuring footage from more than 50 oral-history interviews of elderly Lenox residents to mark the town's 250th anniversary.
Lenox, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Judy Seaman
awarded on: 2015-06-20
amount: $3,542
Hilltowns History Conference and Fair - Hooked on History
A local history day at Mohawk Trail Regional High School uniting teachers, students, and the public with local history organizations.
Shelburne Falls, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Sheila Damkoehler
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
5th Annual Reading Frederick Douglass at High Rock Tower Park
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Lynn, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Wendy Joseph
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $500
Exploring Effective Interpretation of Northern Slavery and its Legacies
A one-day symposium familiarizing regional historic and cultural resource organizations with the history and legacy of slavery in the north and helping them develop programming and materials.
Salem, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Beth Beringer
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $4,630
Lowell's Irish Problem: The Town Vote to Establish a School for the Irish
Production of a 3-minute film that is to provide background for Tsongas Center interactive civic activity that focuses on immigration.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Kristin Gallas
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
1854...a folk opera
Writing of the libretto of a "folk opera" about the mid-nineteenth-century African American experience on Martha's Vineyard.
Oak Bluffs, MA, Dukes County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Jack Schimmelman
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
earth.sky mobile exhibition
Creation of two short films by Roberto Mighty featuring historical figures, their monuments, and the cemetery landscape, to be included in a series of twenty shorts that will be the basis of a walking tour mobile app.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Bree Harvey
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Historic Property Research and Plaque Project
Research and fabrication of six historical plaques, to be awarded to property owners for their efforts in maintaining the historical integrity and condition of their property.
Fall River, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Jim Soule
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $2,500
DAWNLAND short films
Short-film social media efforts to support the creation and distribution of the full-length documentary film DAWNLAND, about the Maine Wabanaki-State Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Adam Mazo
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
Techung: Bone of the Heart documentary film
Preproduction work on a documentary covering the role of music in the maintaining of cultural identity among Tibetan exiles.
(project website)
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Marilyn D. Pennell
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $9,310
Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World
Production of a play by Yussef El Guindi, post-performance talks with the playwright, and a free, public symposium on the role of the arts in challenging stereotypes.
South Hadley, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: J. Lucinda Kidder
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $2,900
The Portuguese Kitchen
Creation of a five-to-twelve minute pilot video about Portuguese cuisine and its history hosted by Manny Lopes of "Cooking with Dad TV."
Springfield, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Harold Wolfe
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Nuestras Abuelas - Our Grandmothers
A bilingual exhibit on Latino heritage created in consultation with Holyoke residents and focused on the relationships of the subjects with their grandmothers.
Holyoke, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Penni Martorell
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $6,200
Harry H. Dow Legal Case Files
Inventory, translation, and assessment of client files from the Harry H. Dow papers archived at the Suffolk Law School Library.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Susan Chinsen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $1,500
Domestic Workers and Employers: Exploring the Realities of Work, Family, Care and Community
A multimedia oral history project with workers and employers about the MA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, including two public events.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Moniqe Nguyen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
2015 Speaker Series
Support for the 80th season of the speaker series, consisting of five free public lectures.
Springfield, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Michelle Morash
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
VIETNAM: Not the War - The Post War
Creation of a trailer, script, and fundraising plan for a one-hour documentary film by Bestor Cram about the post-war realities in Vietnam and American veterans' ongoing involvement there.
Wellesley, MA, Norfolk County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: C. David Thomas
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $10,000
Boston Asian American Film Festival: Home in America
A four-day themed film festival on intergenerational immigrant experiences.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Susan Chinsen
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
Driving to the American Dream: Citizenship at the Wheel
A reading, discussion, and performance program for Boston cab drivers based on Dmitry Samarov's Where To?
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Barbara Lewis
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $9,848
Chair City Oral History Series and Community Art Center
A community art and discussion project that will engage former chair manufacturing workers in producing 400 copies of eleven oral histories recorded in 2009, after the closing of the city's last chair manufacturer.
Gardner, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Tracie Pouliot
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $4,000
Stem to Stern: Building CONSTITUTION
A short film featuring an animation of the 1790s building of the USS Constitution, to be shown while Old Ironsides is in dry dock and can be seen in her entirety.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Robert Kiihne
awarded on: 2015-06-19
amount: $5,000
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Website
Development of an educational website about the history of the commercial fishing industry in New Bedford, providing online access to oral histories and other materials gathered by the Working Waterfront Festival.
(project website)
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Laura Orleans
awarded on: 2015-06-16
amount: $5,000
Frederick Douglass Communal Reading
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Cedric Arno
awarded on: 2015-06-03
amount: $500
Many Languages, One Collective Voice: We Read Frederick Douglass as One Community
Support for a public reading of Frederick Douglass' famous Fourth of July oratory as part of the Mass Humanities Reading Frederick Douglass program.
Brockton, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: Lynn Smith
awarded on: 2015-05-19
amount: $500
Reel Talk Film Series
A three-part moderated film-and-discussion program with underserved Lawrence youth.
Lawrence, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Jared Ravreby
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $4,000
Touching Home in China: in search of missing girlhoods
Support for a social media campaign to launch a multimedia electronic book depicting the history of China's One-Child Policy and the experiences of two adopted Chinese-American girls who visited their place of birth.
Melrose, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Melissa Ludtke
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000
Digging Northampton's History - A Community Archaeology Project
An archaeological dig at the 1719 Parsons House, to which area third and fourth grade students and the public will be invited.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Linda Ziegenbein
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $5,000
Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times
A convention of Native groups in Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod Islands, South Coast, and Amherst in roundtable discussions envisioning a new social contract between the Commonwealth and its Native peoples.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Cedric Woods
awarded on: 2015-03-20
amount: $10,000